Anyone else getting bored?
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When I first did dialysis I thought it was so interesting. Now lately i'm getting bored. I'm an acute dialysis nurse. I know i can read and stuff while the pt is on the machine but I don't know... Read More

That can also be considered an infection control problem, if you think about it.

The OSHA blood borne pathogen regulations tell workers not to apply lip balm or eat in your work area - the same thing would go for the patients too.

Have you ever done the Heimlich maneuver on a patient connected to a dialysis machine? I have and it is not pretty. Patient was sneaking hard tac candy

Jun 10, '09

Depends on state laws also. Here in florida there is nothing restricting patients from bringing an entire meal if they like. I have repeated asked if we can restrict or limit to snacks and drinks with screw top lids. I have had patients choke while dialyzing and wheww!!! Then you cant restrict one and allow the other. Personally I fault my company as they could implement policy on admission restricting this issue. We cant have even a bottle of water as staff and this is understandable yet pts can bring and do as they please. I have seen them have pizza delivered and expect us to serve it for them!! But when you are cleaning up a pulled out venous needle and trying to tape someone up while they are shoving McDonalds Big Mac in thier mouth at the same time just grosses me out LOL.

Jun 10, '09

We don't allow food or drink in our clinic as well mainly because of the safety issues, but it is a big infection control issue as well. Once you let the patients start bringing food into the treatment area, it is very difficult to stop. We had a patient call & order delivery pizza also. When we found out what he had done, we made him call & cancel the order, & explained that we cannot be allowing food to be delivered to the clinic & taken out into the treatment area. Also, like mentioned previously, if you let one patient do it, then you have to let everyone else as well.

Jun 10, '09

this is true. we have tried and tried to make our policy stop the eaters but to no avail. We actually had a mother that came to sit with her daughter every day and she would bring in salads and sandwiches and just sit there eating them on her chairside table! Then we had a bad roach problem for a while due to patients eating. It is hard, if not impossible, to stop it once everyone is doing it.
And the things they eat! Cheeotos, fritos, drinking Coke, funyuns, ORANGE JUICE!!! Our dietitian is just at a loss for words. Don't they understand?? At least ACT like you're taking your binders when you're here! Geez!

Jun 11, '09

GeauxNursing, I couldn't help but to laugh when reading your post. How right you are about some of the stuff they bring in. I remember when I first started nursing, a little old lady started having this brown watery stuff coming out of the corners of her mouth & slowly going down her chin. Scared me to death, I thought she had old blood coming out of her mouth! Turned out that it was her snuff that she had hidden under her blanket.
Also, we had a young girl, about 20 or so one time that was absolutely babied by her parents. On her birthday, her mom came in with this big birthday cake & wanted to take it out on the floor to her machine to surprise her with it & then serve some to the other patients as well. We had to tell mom that the treatment area was not really an appropriate place to be serving cake, but she could share it in the lobby if she wanted to.